.<: 



^ • o '' 



■b^-^- 






.0' 



'■vP 















^^^c 






'bV" 






;>^ 'V. 


















♦ 'A.^ 



..J>^^ 






"<> 



^-.c,^^ 



.^ 






J>^ "^. 






■>-* 



C .r. 



■\ 



V, 





















-.>. 



'o • » • 









x^'-^. 






^^•n^. 




Sii^* <$. A^ ♦(Am A" Xf^ '?.^ *^m^' <- A^ *j 






7^. 



THE LIFE 



PUBLIC SERVICES 



HON. JAMES KNOX POLK, 



COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES 



I|)cjj»^ij)ifts ^pift3)tlTk Mm'^'&r^^. 



ALSO, 



A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



HON. GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS. 



V 



■^ 



BALTIMORE: — N. HICKMAN. 
NEW YORK: — BURGESS, STRINGER & CO. 

PHILADELPHIA: G. B. ZIEBER & CO., R. G. BERI'ORD, ROBINSON &, PETERSON. 

BOSTON: REDDING & CO. BALTIMORE: W. TAYLOR. 

NEW O.'iLEAV-!: BRAVO & MORGAN. 

PITTS BUKR: GEORGE QUIGLEY. 



Murphy, print. 



18 4 4 



Baltimore. 



1^ CV^JC-,- 



vHaiiili 



aiiiiiiliiiii|iiiiiiiiiiiii iiii|i iiiiiiiiiiMiiiiliiiii|iiiiMiiHiiiiiniiniiinn;^ 

■I 6^ cic;>^ cii^ c^Ji^ c^>C^^ cixS?^ cvC^ c^^O c^-CS^'O cUbAO c^-ssAo <>>^?^ cviiT^O ?Sa3 SSfi! 



GEORGE M. DAI<I*AS 



AND THE 



i 



UNITED STATES BANK. 



? 



c 






In 1832 and '33 Mr. Dallas represented Pennsylvania in the rSi^c 

U. S. Senate. In obedience to positive instructions from his S,5'i 

State Legislature, he voted for the extension of the charter of ((^5:^ 

the U. S. Bank. The Democratic party have ever recognized rfg^^ 

the doctrine of instruction. Mr. Dallas obeved the instructions l^-Sn 

and voted for the bank. How unlike has been the course of Mr. o^J 

Clay! Instructed by the Legislature of his State in 1824 to -^S | 

vote for General Jackson for the presidency, he disobeyed them, 9^-^ 

and entered into a coalition with John Quincy Adams, by which ;; 5;2 

the latter was elected President and the former Secretary of /sA 

State. His course in regard to the bankrupt law is not less i 'SJ 

selBsh. He disobeyed again, the almost unanimous wish and :S'^ 
instructions of his constituents by refusing to vote for the repeal 



rt g A of the bankrupt law, which was defeated by his vote, and thus /a^E.^) 
l5'^ entered into another coalition with the speculators, financiers, ^:5'^ 
&c. of the country by which, in 1844, they were to give him (n~^ 



their undivided support. . r'>5'< 

'J'he following are extracts from a letter of Mr. Dallas to a It'^:^ 
Democratic committee of Smithfield, Pa. dated rth July, 1836, c'"» 3 
and are chielly in vindication of General Jackson's veto: >iS.') 

"The bill passed both houses of Conirress, but met from the c:SJ 
Roman tribune who filled the executive office, in whose elevation fcs.J 
I had taken an active part, and from the great current of who^^e 7,'5.J 
policy and spirit the Democracy of America expected the won- 
deisof renovation and reform he lias since achieved, a signal 
and overwhelming veto. 

" From the moment of the veto, the enraged board, heretofore 
discreet and ])lausible, lore oft' the mask, stri|)ped itself rapidly 
of all disguise, and under the llimsy pretext of being first assailed, 
entered at a bound and with bluster into the arena of political 
strife. The chief magistrate of the country became the mark 
of its contumely and vindictive thrusts. Town meetings were 

[ Turn to 3d page of cover. 



/•: 






i:) 



9'- 



^i 



[niiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^ 



Geo H H;ik 



THE LIFE 

AND 

PUBLIC SERVICES 

OF THE 

JAMES KMOX POLK, 

WITH A 

COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES 

ON 




..^^^•r^,. 



ALSO, 

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 

OF THE 

HON. GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS. 

BALTIMORE: 
PUBLISHED BY N. HICKMAN, 

No. 88 BALTIMORE STREET. 

1 844. 



V- 



'1 



EKTKHED,'according to the Act of Congress, in the year --"-u-nd eight 
hundred and forty-four, by N.tha.v.el Hickman, u. the Clerk s office of 
the District Court of Marj'land. 



JoHH MoiiruT, rriiiter, 

1 W Market street, BaUUnore. 



LIFE 



HON. JAMES K. POLK 



"James K. Polk, who is the oldest of ten children, was born 
in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, on the second of No- 
vember, 1795, and is consequently in the 49th year of his age. 
His ancestors, whose original name, Pollock, has, by obvious tran- 
sition, assumed its present form, emigrated more than a century 
ago, from Ireland, a country from which many of our most 
distinguished men are proud to derive their origin. They 
established themselves first in Maryland, where some of their 
descendants still sojourn. The branch of the family from which 
is sprung the subject of this memoir, removed to the neighbor- 
hood of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and thence to the western 
frontier of North Carolina, sometime before the revolutionary 
war. Its connection with that eventful struggle is one of rare 
distinction. On the twentieth of May, 1775, consequently more 
than a twelvemonth anterior to the declaration of the Fourth of 
July, the assembled inhabitants of Mecklenburg county publicly 
absolved themselves from their allegiance to the British crown, 
and issued a formal manifesto of independence in terms of manly 
eloquence, which have become 'familiar as household words' 
to the American people. Col. Thomas Polk, the prime mover 
in this act of noble daring, and one of the signers of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, was the great uncle of the present 
Speaker, who is also connected with the Alexanders, Chairman 
and Secretary of the famous meeting, as well as with Dr. 
Ephraim Brevard, the author of the Declaration itself.* 

* Tradition ascribes to Thomas Polk the principal agency in bringing about 
the Declaration. He appears to have given the notice for the election of the 
Convention, and (being the colonel of the county) to have superintended the 
election in each of the militia districts. He had been for a long time engaged 
in the service of the province as a surveyor, and as a member of the assembly ; 
and was thus intimately acquainted, not only in Mecklenburg, but in the coun- 
ties generally. His education had been acquired, not within the classic walls 
of an English university, but among his own native hills, and amidst the pas- 
sions and feelings of his countrymen. Dr. Ephraim Brevard (the author of the 



"Mr. Jeflerson liaving, sincerely, no doubl, but upon merely 
negative jjrounds, (luestioned tlie authenticity of this interesting 
piece of history, the Lecislature of North Carolina, uith a 
becoinir)2; priile of patriotism, caused the evidence cstablisiiing 
its validiiv to be collected in a complete shape, and deposited 
in the archives of the State. The people of Mecklenburg were, 
almost to a man, staunch Whi^s, in the genuine, revolutionary 
acceptation of the term, and have been up to the present day 
remarkable for their unwavering adherence to democratic prin- 
ciples. As an evidence of the sturdy independence which char- 
acterizes them, it is often pleasantly observed that, at the last 
war, they took up arms six months before, and did not lay them 
down until twelve months after, the government. In the con- 
test for independence several of Mr. Polk's relatives distin- 
guished themselves, even to the peril of life. To be allied to 
such a people and lineage, is a fit subject for honorable pride. 
Liberty does not frown upon the indulgence of a sentiment so 
natural. She does not reject the heritage of honor, while refus- 
in"- to add to it social or political distinctions subversive of 
equal rights. The American people have always manifested an 
affectionate regard for those who bear the names of the heroes 
or martvrs of the revolution. They furnish not a proof of the 
alleged ingratitude of rcpulilics. 

"The father of Mr. I'ulk was a farmer of unassuming pre- 
tensions, but enterprising cliaractcr. Thrown upon his own 
resources in early life, he becanie the architect of his own for- 
tunes. He was a warm supporter of Mr. Jefferson, and through 
life a firm and consistent republican. In the autumn of 1806 
he removed to Tennessee, where he was among the first pioneers 
of the fertile valley of Duck river, then a wilderness, but now 
the most flourishing and populous portion of the State. The 
ma'^ical growth of a country which was but ycslerilay redeiMiu'd 
from the sole dominion of nature, is a phenoinL-non ol ureal 

Declaration) ami Wraightslil! Avery, (tlie iirst attoriiey-|;encral of North Caro- 
lina) were men of tlie hi^-hcst classical attainment?, and contributing their en- 
lightened resources to the shrewd native enthusiasm of Thomas Polk, produced 
a Declaration, at that time unrivalled, not only for the neatness of its style, but 
lor the moral sublimity of its conception. — Jones' Xoiih Carolina. 

rinally, the whole proceedings were read distinctly and audibly at the court 
house door, by Col. Thomas Tolk, to a large, respectable and approving assem- 
bla'^e of citizens, who were present, and gave sanction to the busine.<s of the 
day. — Memoir ol Hcv. Humphrey Hunter. — ll»il. 



jAMcs K. roi,i:. 



moral and political interest, and cannot fail to impress a char- 
acter of streiigtii and enterprise upon the authors and partici- 
pators of the wonderful result- How can man languish or halt 
when all around him is expanding and advancing wilh irrepres- 
sible energy ? In this region Mr. Polk still resides, so that he 
may be said, literally, to have grown with its growth and strength- 
ened with its strength. Of course, in the infancy of its set- 
tlement the opportunities for instruction could not be great. 
Notwithstanding this disadvantage — and the still more formi- 
dable one, of a painful affliction, from which, after years of 
suffering, he was finally relieved by a surgical operation — he 
acquired the elements of a good English education. Appre- 
hending that his constitution had been too much impaired to 
permit the confinement of study, his father determined, much, 
however, a"-ainst the will of the son, to make of him a commer- 
cial man; and with this view actually placed him with a mer- 
chant. Upon what slender threads hang the destinies of life! 
A little more and the uncompromising opponent of the Bank of 
the United States, and the Democratic candidate for the highest 
office in the gift of seventeen millions of freemen, might have 
been at this day, in spite of his origin and early tendencies, a 
Whig preacher of panics, uttering jeremiads for the fate of that 
shadowy and intangible thing yclept ' Credit System,' 

- ' If shape it might be call'd, that shape had none. 
Distinguishable in member, joint or limb; 
Or substance might be call'd, that shadow seem'd, 
For each seem'd either.' 

'* He remained a few weeks in a situation adverse to his 
wishes and incompatible with his taste. Finally, his earnest 
appeals succeeded in overcoming the resistance of his father, and 
in July, 1813, he was placed first under the care of the Rev. 
Dr. Henderson, and subsequently at the academy of Murfrees- 
borough, Tennessee, then under the direction of Mr. Samuel P. 
Black, justly celebrated in that region as a classical teacher. 
In the autumn of 1815 he entered the University of North 
Carolina, having, in less than two years and a half, thoroughly 
prepared himself to commence his collegiate course. It will 
be seen, from this hasty sketch, that the history of Col. Polk 
furnishes an interesting example of talent and perseverance 
triumphing over disheartening difficulties in early life. So fre- 
quent are such instances that it would almost seem that true 



6 LIFE OF 

merit reriiiires tlie ordeiil of adverse circumstances to strengthen 
its temper and distinguish it from unsubf^tantial pretension. 

"Mr. Polk's career at the University was distinguished. At 
each semi-annual examination he bore away the first honor, and 
finally graduated in 1818 with the highest distinction of his 
class, and with the reputation of beinj the first scholar in both 
the mathematics and the classics. Of the former science he was 
passionately fond, though equally distinguished as a linguist. 
His course at college was marked by the s:une assiduity and 
studious application which have since characteri/.eil him. His 
ambition to excel was equalled by his perseverance alone, in 
proof of which it is said that he never mi?sed a recitation, nor 
omitted the punctilious performance of any duty. Habits t»f 
close application at college are apt to be despised by those who 
pride themselves on brilliancy of mind, as if they were incom- 
patible. This is a melancholy mistake. Genius has even been 
defined the faculty of application. The latter is, at least, some- 
thing better, and more available. So carefully has Mr. Polk 
avoided the pedantry of classical display, which is the false taste 
of our dav and country, as almost to hide the acquisitions which 
distinguished his early career. His preference for the useful 
and substantial, indicated by his youthful passion for the mathe- 
matics, has made him select a style of elocution which would, 
perhaps, be deemed too plain by the shallow admirers of flashy 
declamation. The worst of all styles is the florid and exagge- 
rated. It is that of minds which are, as it were, overlaid by 
tlieir acquisitions. They break down beneath a burden which 
thev have not strength to bear, — 

' Deep versed in books, but shallow in themselves.' 

" The mind should rather be fertilized by culture than encum- 
bered with foreiirn productions. Pedantry is at once the result 
and proof of sciolism. 

" Ileturning to Tennessee from the State which i>, in two 
senses, his alma mater, with lu-alth ci>n?i(li'ral)ly impaired by 
excessive application, Mr. Polk, in the beginning of the year 
1819, cornuu'nce<l the study of the law in the oHice of the late 
Senator (Jnimlv, and late in 1820 was admitted to the bar. lie 
comnietucd his professional career in the county of Maury, willj 
^reat advantai^cs, derived IVom tiie connection of his family with 
its earlv settlement. To this Imur his warmest friends are the 



JAMES K. POLK. 



sharers of his father's early privations and difficulties, and the 
associates of his own youth. But his success was due to his 
personal qualities, still more than to extrinsic advantages. A 
republican in habits as well as in principles, depending tor the 
maintenance of his dignity upon tlie esteem of others, and not 
upon his own assumption, his manners conciliated the general 
good will. The confidence of his friends was justified by the 
result. His thorough academical preparation, his accurate know- 
ledge of the law, his readiness and resources in debate, his 
unwearied application to business, secured him, at once, full 
employment, and in less than a year he was already a leading 
practitioner. Such prompt success in a profession where the 
early stages are proverbially slow and discouraging falls to the 
lot of few. 

"Mr. Polk continued to devote some years exclusively to the 
laborious prosecution of his profession, with a progressive aug- 
mentation of reputation, and the more solid rewards by which it 
is accompanied. In 1823 he entered upon the stormy career of 
politics, being chosen to represent his county in the State Legis- 
lature by a heavy majority over the former incumbent, but not 
without formidable opposition. He was, for two successive 
years, a member of that body, where his ability in debate and 
talent for business at once gave him reputation. The early per- 
sonal and political friend of General Jackson, he was one of 
those who, in the session of 1823-4, called that distinguished 
man from his retirement by electing him to the Senate of the 
United States ; and he looks back with pride to the part he took 
in an act which was followed by such important consequences. 
In August, 1825, being then, in his thirtieth year, Mr. Polk was 
chosen to represent his district in Congress, and in the ensuing 
December took his seat in that body, where he has remained 
ever since. He brought with him into the national councils 
those fundamental principles to which he has adhered through 
all the personal mutations of party. From his early youth he 
was a republican of the ' straitest sect.' He has ever regarded 
the Constitution of the United States as an instrument of spe- 
cific and limited powers, and that doctrine is at the very foun- 
dation of the democi-atic creed. Of course he has ever been 
what is termed a strict constructionist, repudiating, above all 
things, the latitudinarian interpretations of federalism, which 
tend to the consolidation of all power in the central government. 



•' When Mr. Polk entered Con2:rcss lie was, with one or two 
exceptions, the junior member of that bodv. But capacity like 
his could not Ions; remain unnoticed. In consequence of tlie 
palpable disrcj^ard of tlie public will manifested in the election 
bv the House of Mr. Adams, together with the means by which 
it was effected, a proposition was brought forward, and much 
discussed at the time, to amend the constitution in such manner 
as to give the choice of President and Vice President imme- 
diately and irreversibly to the people. In favor of this propo- 
sition Mr. Polk made his first speech in Congress, which at once 
attracted the attention of the couiitrv by the force of its reason- 
ing, the copiousness of its research, and the spirit of lionest 
indignation by which it was animated. It was at once seen that 
his ambition was to distinguish himself by substantial merit 
rather than by rhetorical display, the rock upon which most 
young orators split. At the same session, that egregious mea- 
sure of political Quixotism, the Panama mission, which was pro- 
posed in contempt of the sound maxim, to cultivate friendship 
with all nations, yet engage in entangling alliances w itii none, 
gave rise to a protracted debate in both Houses of Congress. 
The exploded federal doctrine was upon this occasion revived, 
that as under the constitution the President and Senate exclu- 
sively are endowed with the treaty-making faculty, and that of 
ori"-inating and appointing to missions, their acts under that 
j)Ower become the supreme law of the land, nor can the House 
of Representatives deliberate upon, much less, in the exercise" 
of a sound discretion, refuse the appropriations necessary to 
carry them into elfect. Against a doctrine so utterly subversive 
of the riijlits and powers of tlie popular branch of Congress, as 
well as of the fundamental principles of democracy, Mr. Polk 
strenuously protested, embodying his views in a series of resolu- 
tions, which repioiluced, in a tangible shape, the doctrines, on 
this {|uestion, of the republican party of '98. The first of these 
resolutions, which presents the general principle with brevity 
and force, runs thus : ' that it is the constitutional right and duty 
of the House of Representatives, when called upon for appro- 
priations to defray the expenses of fcneign n\issions, to deliberate 
upon the expediency or inexpediency of such missions, and to 
determine and act thereon as in their judgment may seem most 
conducive to the public i^ood.* 

" From lliis tin)o Mr. ['nlk'^ hi'«toiv is inseparably interwoven 



JAMES K. POLK. 



with that of the House. He is prominently connected with 
every important question, and upon every one, as by an unerring 
instinct of republicanism, took the soundest and boldest ground. 
From his entrance into public life, his adherence to the cardinal 
principles of the Democratic creed has been singularly steadfast. 
During the whole period of General Jackson's administration, 
as Ions: as he retained a seat on the floor, he was one of its lead- 
ing supporters, and at times, and on certain questions of para- 
mount importance, its chief reliance. In the hour of trial he 
was never found wanting, or from his post. In December, 1827, 
two years after his entrance in the House, Mr. Polk was placed 
on the important committee of Foreign Affairs, and some time 
after was appointed, in addition, chairman of the select com- 
mittee to which was referred that portion of the President's 
message calling the attention of Congress to the probable accu- 
mulation of a surplus in the treasury, after the anticipated 
extinguishment of the national debt. As the head of this 
committee he made a lucid report, replete with the soundest 
doctrines, ably enforced, denying the constitutional power of 
Congress to collect from the people, for distribution, a surplus 
beyond the wants of the Government, and maintaining that the 
revenue should be reduced to the exigencies of the public service. 

"The session of 1830 will always be distinguished by the death 
blow which was then given to the unconstitutional system of 
internal improvements by the General Government. We have 
ever regarded the Maysville Road veto as second in importance 
to none of the acts of General Jackson's energetic administration. 
When the bill was returned by the President unsigned a storm 
arose in the House, in the midst of which the veto was attacked 
by a torrent of passionate declamation, mixed with no small share 
of personal abuse. To a member from Ohio, whose observations 
partook of the latter character, Mr. Polk replied in an energetic 
improvisation, vindicating the patriotic resolution of the Chief 
Magistrate. The friends of States Rights in the House rallied 
manfully upon the veto. The result was that the bill was re- 
jected, and countless ' log-rolling'' projects for the expenditure 
of many millions of the public treasure, which awaited the 
decision, perished in embryo. 

"In December, 1832, he was transferred to the committee of 
Ways and Means, with which his connection has been so dis- 
tinguished. At that session the directors of the Btnk of the 



10 LIFF. OF 

United States were summoned to Washington, and examined 
upon oath helore the coniniittee just named. A division of opin- 
ion resulted in the presentation of two reports. That of the 
majority, whicii admitted that the Bank had exceeded its lawful 
powers by interfering; with the plan of the government, to pay 
off the three per cent, stock, was tame, and unaccompanied by 
pertinent facts, or elucidating details. Mr. Polk, in behalf of 
the minority, made a detailed report, communicating all the 
material circumstances, and presenting conclusions utterly 
adverse to the institution \vhich had been the subject of inquiry. 
This arrayed against him the whole bank power, which he was 
made to feel in a f|uarter where he had every thing at stake, for 
upon his return to his district he found the most formidable 
opposition mustered against hi;n for his course upon this ques- 
tion. The frienils of tlie United States liank held a meeting at 
Nashville to denounce his report. The most unscrupulous mis- 
representations were resorted to in order to prove that he had 
destroyed the credit of the west, by proclaiming that his coun- 
trymen were unworthy of mercantile confidence. The result, 
however, was, that, after a violent contest, Mr. Polk was re- 
elected by a majority of more than three thousand. Foi Innately 
for the stability of our institutions, the panics which 'frighten 
cities from their propriety' do not sweep with the same ileso- 
lating force over the scattered dwellings of the country. 

" In September, 1833, the President, indignant at the open 
defiance of law by the Bank of the United States, and the un.- 
blushing corruption which it practised, determined upon the 
bold and salutary measure of the removal of the deposites, which 
was eftected in the followinj; nionlli. The act produced much 
excitement throughout the country, anil it was foreseen that a 
great and doiilitfiii conllict was about to ensue. At such a crisis 
it became iuipoitant to have at the head of the committee of 
Ways and Means, a man of coura;:e to meet, and firmness to 
sustain, the formidable shock. Such a man was found in Mr. 
Polk, and he proved himself equal to the occasion. Congress 
met, and the conflict provetl even fiercer than had Ikhmi antici- 
pated. The cause of the bank was supported in ihe House by 
such men as Mr. McDufiie, A<lams and liinney, not to mention 
a ho>t of other names. It is instructive to look back in calmer 
times to the rei^n of terror known as the Panic Session. The 
bank, with the whole rouunerce of the country at its feet, alter- 



JAMES K. POLK. 11 

nately torturing and easing its miserable pensioners as they 
increased or relaxed their cries of financial agony; public meet- 
ings held in every city with scarcely the intermission of a day, 
denouncing the President as a tyrant and the enemy of his coun- 
try; deputations flocking from the towns to extort from him a 
reluctant submission; Whig orators traversing the country and 
stimulating the passions of excited multitudes, without respect 
even to the sanctity of the Sabbath; inflammatory memorials 
poured into Congress from every quarter; the Senate almost 
decreeing itself into a state of permanent insurrection, and pro- 
claiming that a revolution had already begun; all the business 
of legislation in both wings of the Capitol postponed to that of 
agitation and panic; an extrajudicial and branding sentence 
pronounced upon the Chief Magistrate of the nation, in violation 
of usage and of the constitution, — these features present but a 
faint picture of the alarm and confusion which prevailed. Con- 
sternation had almost seized upon the republican ranks, thinned 
by desertions and harassed by distracting doubts and fears. 
But the stern resolve of him whose iron arm guided the helm of 
State, conducted the perilous conflict to a successful issue. Nor 
should we forget the eminent services of the individual who pre- 
sided over the committee of Ways and Means. His coolness, 
promptitude and abundant resources were never at fault. His 
opening speech in vindication of the President's measure, con- 
tains all the material facts and reasons on the republican side of 
the question, enforced with much power and illustrated by great 
research. To this speech almost every member of the oppo- 
sition, who spoke upon the question, attempted to reply, but the 
arguments which its author brought forward to establish the 
power of the President under the constitution, as elucidated by 
contemporaneous or early exposition, to do the act, which had 
been so boldly denounced as a high-handed and tyrannical usur- 
pation, could neither be refuted nor weakened. Mr. McDuffie, 
the distinguished leader of the opposition in this eventful con- 
flict, bore testimony, in his concluding remarks, to the 'boldness 
and manliness' witii which Mr. Polk had assumed the only posi- 
tion which could be judiciously taken. The financial portion of 
his speech, and that in which he exposed the glaring misdeeds 
of the bank, were no less eflicient. When Mr. McUuflie had 
concluded the remarks to which we have alluded, a member 
from Virginia, after a few pertinent observations, demanded the 



12 



previous (luestiun. A luoie iiilcuse exciteineiil was never felt 
in C()n<;ie53 tliaii at lliis tlnilling moment. The two parties 
looked at each oilier for a space, in sullen silence, like two 
armies on the eve of a deadly conflict. The motion of Mr. 
Mason prevailed, the debate was arrested, and the division 
proved a triumphant victory for the republican cause. The bank 
then gave up the contest in despair. 

" The po!>ition of the chairman of the committee of Ways and 
Means, at all tiiiies a most arduous and responsible one, was 
doubly so at this session, whieh will form an eputh in the politi- 
cal annals of the country. Mr. Polk occupied it for the first 
time. From its organization and the nature of its duties, this 
committee must be at all times the chief organ of every admin- 
istration in the House. At this session it was for obvious 
reasons peculiarly so. To attack it then was to strike at the 
government; to embarrass its action was to thwart the course of 
the administration. Extraordinary and indiscriminate opposition 
was accordingly made to all the appropriation bills. It was 
avowed in debate that it was within the scope of legitimate oppo- 
sition to withhold even the ordinary supjilies until the deposites 
were restored to the Bank of the United States; that this resti- 
tution must be made, or revolution ensue. The bank must tri- 
umph or the wheels of government be arrested. The people 
should never forget the perils of a contest in which they were 
almost constrained to succumb. The recollection should warn 
them not to build up a-ain a power in the state of such formida- 
ble faculties. The tactics which we have just described threw 
"■reat additional labour upon the committee, and particularly 
upon its chairman. Fully a])prise(l of the ditViculties he had to 
encounter, he maintained his post wiih ^loopless vigilance and 
untiring activitv. He was always ready to give the House am- 
ple explanations upon every iteu), however minute, of the various 
apjjropriations. He was ever jjrompt to meet any objections 
which might be started, and of (piick sagacity to detect the arti- 
fices to which factious di^ingenuousness is prone to resort. All 
the measures of the committee, including those of paramount 
importaiue, relating to the bank and the deposites, were carried 
in «<pite of the m;»t immitigable opposition. The true-hearted 
republicans, who comlucted this critical conflict to a succcsslul 
issue, among whom Mr. I'olk occupies a distingui>lucl r;iiik, 
deserve the lasting gratitude of the country. 



JAMES K. POLK. 13 

"Towards the close of the memorable session of 1834 Mr. 
Speaker Stevenson resigned the chair, as well as his seat in the 
House. The majority of the democratic party preferred Mr. 
Polk as his successor, but in consequence of a division in its 
ranks, the opposition, to whom his prominent and uncompro- 
mising course had rendered him less acceptable, succeeded in 
electing a gentleman, then a professed friend, but since, a de- 
cided opponent of Gen. Jackson and his measures. Mr. Polk's 
defeat produced no change in his course. He remained faithful 
to his party, and assiduous in the performance of his arduous 
duties. In December, 1835, he was elected Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and chosen again at the extra session 
in September, 1837, after an animated contest. The duties of 
this difficult situation, it is now conceded, he discharged with 
rare fidelity and fairness. In the beginning unusual difficulties 
were thrown in his way by an animosity which was sometimes 
carried to an extent that called forth general animadversion. 
During the first session in which he presided, more appeals were 
taken from his decision than had occurred in the whole period 
since the origin of the government; but he was uniformly sus- 
tained by the House and by many of his political adversaries. 
Strangers of all parties who visited "Washington were struck 
with the dignity, promptitude and impartiality with which he 
presided over the deliberations of the House. Notwithstanding 
the violence with which he had been assailed. Congress passed, 
at the close of the session in 1837, an unanimous vote of thanks 
to its presiding officer, from whom it separated with the kindest 
feelings; and no man could enjoy its confidence and friendship 
in a higher degree. His calmness and good temper allayed the 
violence of opposition, in a station for which his quickness, 
coolness and sagacity eminently qualified him." 

The ensuing session, however, unfortunately presented a dif- 
ferent state of feeling on the part of Mr. Polk's opponents. 
Again elevated to the high position of Speaker, his superior capa- 
bilities for the station were put to the severest test; but, not- 
withstanding every attempt to throw his prudence and courtesy 
from their balance, he sustained himself with unfaltering deci- 
sion and admirable equanimity of temper. It was during this 
Congress that the exciting case of the Mississippi election was 
under an angry and extended discussion, at the close of which 
he was called upon to give his casting vote. It was upon the 



14 LIFE OF 

honest exercise of this duty that Mr. Clay, then a member of 
the Senate, but being present upon the floor of the House, uttered 
the profane exclamation which has made tlie event memorable, 
while it deservedly detracted much from the character of the 
senator in the opinion of all virtuous minds. 

The exasperation of the opposition was more notably mani- 
fested at the close of the session, and contrasted to the disad- 
vantage of that party with the action of the House at the con- 
clusion of the session of 1837. Then, as we have seen, he 
received an unanimous vote of thanks, a custom which we believe 
was never before opposed until at the close of the last session, 
when he had a seat in Congress. On the usual motion being: 
made, it was unexpectedly met by a violent party speech, from 
gentlemen who, while they had to admit that the speaker had 
discharged his duty with dignity and ability, yet, if our recollec- 
tion bears us out correctly, assigned as a reason for their vindic- 
tive opposition, that as Mr. Polk was about to become a candidate 
for the gubernatorial oflice of Tennessee, it would be giving 
their sanction to his pretensions, as it would aQord him " politi- 
cal capital to trade upon!" A singular reason, surely, for an 
undignified and unusual act! Without this "capital*' from his 
opponents in Congress Mr. Polk returned home, and became the 
Democratic candidate for the oflice of governor. The chances, 
to all appearances, were against him, conceding that the results 
of the late elections in Tennessee exhibited the true condition 
of the two parties, as divided solely upon principles. It will be 
remembered that in the presidential election of 1836, a portion 
of the Democratic party supported Judge White in opposition 
to Mr. Van liuren. Tennessee gave her vote to her own citi/.en, 
AVhite's majority being 9,84'2. The next year, at the election 
for governor. Cannon, the ^VIlig candidate, obtained a majority 
of 19,873 over Armstrong, Democrat. To succeed, then, Mr. 
Polk would have to break down a majority of nearly '20,000 
votes, and that, too, against the same gentleman who received 
his office through that immense majority but two years before. 
The indomitable energy and untiring industry of Mr. Polk, 
however, successfullv performed this Herculean task, and he 
came ofl' victor in 1S39 with a majority of i2,6G9, making a Demo- 
cratii gain in the State of something over 22,000 votes. In doing 
this, he abandoned iiduc of his political principles, but maintained 
what was called his '' ultraism'' and " radicalisni"' with the same 



JAMES K. POLK. 15 

uncompromising sternness that distinguished him while holding 
a seat in Congress. 

In 1840, Tennessee gave her vote to Harrison, he receiving 
12,102 majority over Mr. Van Buren. The old defection pro- 
duced by Judge White in 1836, had not entirely subsided, par- 
ticularly in relation to Mr. Van Buren. In the following year 
Mr. Polk was again the candidate for Governor, but was defeated 
by Mr. Jones, one of the most popular Whigs in the State, not, 
however, without cutting down the 12,000 AVhig majority for 
Harrison to 3,224. In 1843, he was a second time the candi- 
date in opposition to Jones, losing his election by somewhere 
about the same relative vote as in 1841. 

But with Polk against Clay, no one can doubt the result in 
Tennessee in 1844. The Whig nominee will have to encounter 
an opposition in that State to which he will be obliged to suc- 
cumb. The elements of Harrison's success in 1840 cannot be 
brought into operation in any shape. The issue in every sense 
will be a new one. The ghost of that " bargain''^ by which Mr. 
Adams was made President, will meet Mr. Clay at every step, 
and retribution will be demanded for that act by which Andrew 
Jackson was made to stand aside, for one whom this same Mr. 
Clay had taught the whole West to hate. Yes, bitterly to hate, 
for attempting to barter the navigation of the Mississippi to Great 
Britain; for giving Texas to Spain: for "an unfeeling policy, 
which would crimson our fresh fields with the blood of our border 
brethren, and light the midnight forest with the flames of their 
dwellings." These are but a few of the charges made against 
Mr. Adams by Mr. Clay himself — and can the West forget.^ 
Can Tennessee forget the memorable events of 1824, by which, 
with all these charges unrefuted, Andrew Jackson was defiauded 
of his election through the vindictive feelings of the present 
Whig candidate, who by this one deed, abandoned his principles, 
deceived Ohio, betrayed Kentucky, and bartered away the whole 
West for the Secretaryship, to a man whom he had denounced 
as wanting in all that makes up the character of a patriot, a 
statesman and a man ? Strangely shall we be mistaken if these 
things be forgotten — sadly shall we be disappointed if the hand 
of justice do not fall where its blow is so richly deserved. 

In concluding this brief sketch of the history of Mr. Polk, 
we are at length brought to the position in which he now stands 
before the people of these United States, the late National Con- 



IG LIFE OF 

vention having named him as the Democratic Candidale for tl»e 
Pkksidencv, with a unanimity as honorable to him as it is the 
presage of a success, which will give a new impetus to those 
great principles of free government, for the integrity and perpe- 
tuity of which the Republican party have so long contended. 
The opinions of our candidate have never been concealed. 
Free and fearless, he has ever thrown himself upon the clear 
and deep stream of Truth, in his stern honesty, unknowing how- 
to trim his sails but to meet the safe breeze of principle. 

" Few public men have pursued a firmer or more consistent 
course than Mr. Polk. Upon several emergencies, when the 
current of popular opinion threatened to overwhelm him, he has 
sternly adhered to the convictions of duty, preferring to sink 
with his principles rather than rise by their abandonment. This, 
we have noticed, was tlie case after his bank report in 1833, and 
he incurred the same hazard when, in 1835, he avowed his un- 
alterable purpose not to separate from the democratic partv in 
the presidential election. On each of these occasions the popu- 
lar excitement in his district would have appalled and driven 
back a timid and time-serving politician. Had he been governed 
by selfish motives; had he consulted his own personal ease and 
looked to his re-election alone; had he, in short, regarded 
success more than principle, lie would have yielded his own 
convictions to the indications, not to be mistaken, of popular 
opinion. But he took counsel of nobler sentiments, and with a 
fearlessness characteristic of his whole public course, avowed- 
and persisted in his well-matured determinations. Nothing can 
be more false tliau the charge of subserviency which has been 
brought against him, in coiiiinon wiili the prominent supporters 
of the administration of General Jackson. It is true that, des- 
pising the cant of no parti/, wliich has ever been the pretext of 
selfish and treacherous politicians, and ciuninced tliat in a 
popular government nothing can be accom|)lished by isolated 
action, he has always acted with his jiartv, as far as piinciple 
would iu>tify. I'linn most of the prominent measures of the 
admini>tr:iti(in, however, his opinions were not only generally 
k flow II, l)ut he had actually spoken or voted before the accession 
of (ii'iieral Jackson to power. 

Mr. Polk is a ready debater, wilii a style and manner forcible 
and impressive. In discussion he has iieen always disiinmii^hed 
by great courtesy, never having: been luiow n to intliil:;e in ulVen- 



JAMLS K. POLK. ^7 

sive personalitv, which, considering the prominence of liis course 
and the ardor of his convictions, is no small merit. As a proof 
of his exemplary assiiluity, he is said never to have missed a 
division wliile occupying a seat on the floor of the House, his 
name being found upon every list of the yer/sand nays. His ambi- 
tion was to be a useful member as well as a prominent actor, and 
accordingly he always performed more than a full share of the 
active business of legislation. In person he is of middle stature, 
with a full, angular brow, and a quick and penetrating eye. The 
expression of his countenance is grave, but its serious cast is 
often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, indicative of the 
amenity of his disposition. The amiable character of his private 
life, which has ever been upright and pure, secures to him the 
esteem and friendship of all who have the advantage of his 
acquaintance." 



L 1 F lu 

OF THE 

HON. GEORGE M. DALLAS. 

George Mifflin Dallas was born in the city of Philadel- 
phia on the 10th of July, 1792. He is the elder son of Alex- 
ander James Dallas, one of the most accomplished advocates and 
distin<>;uished statesmen that have adorned the legal profession 
of the United States, or sustained, in important posts of public 
trust, the principles and policy of the republican party. He 
received the rudiments of his education at a school in German- 
town, and afterward at the Friemls' Academy in Philadelphia. 
At the age of fourteen he was entered in Princeton College, and 
continued there until 1810, when he was graduated with the 
hishest honors of his class. 

On leaving college, Mr. Dallas commenced the law, in the 
office of his father at Philadelphia; and although, in the inter- 
vals of that severe study, the more attractive forms of literature 
and poetry were not unfrequently cultivated, he yet persevered 
with unceasing application in making himself a thorough master 
of the great principles of the profession of which he has since 
been so distinguished a member. He was admitted to the bar 
in 1813. Soon after the declaration of war with England he had- 
enrolled himself in a volunteer corps; and when, in the year 
1813, Mr. Gallatin was appointed by President Madison a mem- 
ber of the commission that repaired to St. Petersburg for the 
purpose of negotiating a peace, under the meiliation of the Em- 
peror Alexander, he accompanied that minister as his private 
and confidential secretary. 

In August, 1814, Mr. Dallas returned to the United States, 
bearing the despatches from the American commissioners, then 
holding their sessions at Ghent, which anmninced the jirospccts 
little favorable to a speedy peace that are known to have re- 
sulted from the earlier conferences with the British envoys. On 
his arrival \\v fnuiul hl^ father ti-ansfcrred from the bar of Phila- 
delphia to the Iliad (if the Treasury Department, a post re- 
(juiring, in the com|ilicafed state of the finances, and amid the 
pressin" exigencies of the war, all tlio resources of judgment 



LIFK 01' GKORGE M. DALLAS. 19 

and talent for which he had been already distinguished, but 
which he was now destined to display through a brilliant admin- 
istration of two years, under circumstances and in a manner that 
secured for him a yet larger share of the applause and confidence 
of the people of the United States. His son remained with him 
for a time at Washington, to assist him in the arduous duties of 
the treasury, and then returned to Philadelphia to resume, or 
rather to commence the actual practice of his profession, an 
event that was almost immediately followed by his marriage with 
an accomplished lady, the daughter of Mr. Nicklin, an eminent 
merchant of that city. 

The death of his father, which occurred shortly after he re- 
tired from the administration of the Treasury Department, took 
from Mr. Dallas, in the outset of his career at the bar, not 
merely the benefit of professional assistance seldom equalled, 
but those kind and endearing associations which could have 
grown up only in intercourse with one whose genius was not 
more brilliant than his affections were warm. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the exigencies of a 
legal life could not withdraw Mr. Dallas from the deepest inter- 
est in political topics. Deriving from the conduct and counsels 
of his father, and from the associations of his earliest youth, as 
well as those of later years, a strong attachment to the principles 
and views of the Democratic party, he had never failed to co- 
operate with his fellow citizens in the measures which were cal- 
culated to advance them. The more tranquil administration of 
Mr. Monroe, succeeding to the fierce political conflicts which 
existed during the war with Engla'^d, did not present many 
questions that rallied party controversies on national affairs ; but 
the election of Gov. Heister in Pennsylvania had brouglit the 
Federal party into power in that State, after a long period of 
Democratic ascendency, and no one embarked with more zeal 
than Mr. Dallas in endeavoring to eft'ect the restoration of the 
policy which he believed to be essential to a sound and just ad- 
ministration of the affiiirs of the commonwealth. These efforts 
resulted in the triumphant re-election of Governor Schultze, the 
candidate of the Democratic party. 

But while unanimity, followed by success, thus attended the 
course of his political associates in the State, the elements of 
division among the Democracy of the Union began to be appa- 
rent in regard to the individual who was to succeed Mr. Monroe. 



Lll K OF 



Earlv personal as«ociations, as well as a just appreciation of his 
distinguished talents, had led Mr. Dallas to unite with a large 
portion of his political friends in Pennsylvania in a desire that 
the vote of the State should be given to Mr. Calhoun ; and the 
success with which that statesman had conducted the adminis- 
tration of the War Department for the ei^ht previous years 
seemed to give a certain pledge, notwithstanding his comparative 
vouth, of the ability he would display in any executive office 
to which the voice of his countrymen should call him. When, 
however, the general sentiment of the republican party through- 
out the Union expressed a desire to confer on the venerable 
patriot who had so long and so faithfully maintained their prin- 
ciples in various posts of civil trust, and so brilliantly augmented 
the dorv of his country in the field of battle, Mr. Dallas, with 
sentiments towards General Jackson in which the friends of Mr. 
Calhoun in Pennsylvania at once participated, took the lead in 
suggesting that the younger candidate should be presented to 
the American people for the second office, while the united and 
harmonious voice of the Democratic party should name General 
Jackson for the presidential chair. In every measure that re- 
sulted from this determination Mr. Dallas bore a prominent part ; 
the eloquent address in which the Democratic convention of the 
State presented their reasons for the course they had adopted, 
is generally understood to have proceeded from his pen; and 
when, in November, 1824, the unusually large majority of more 
ihan thirty thousand Democratic votes showed the enthusiastic 
feeling of the people of the State, there were few among them" 
whose zeal had been more honorably and actively displayed 
than his in producing that gratifying result. 

The choice of the House of Representatives having given the 
Presidency to Mr. Adams, the succeeding four years only con- 
tributed to create the vet stronger concentration of public opin- 
ion in favor of General Jackson: and when he obtained, in 1828, 
the suffrages of fifteen States, the majority in Pennsylvania had 
increased beyond fifty thousand. It was during this interval 
that Mr. Dallas received from the people of his native city an 
honorable mark of their confidence by an election to the mayor- 
altv, an office which for many years past, in consequence of the 
usual ascendency of the Federal party, has been seldom bestowed 
upon a person of his political opinions. 

At length, in the year 18:>1, a vacancy having occurred in the 



GEORGE M. DALLAS. '21 

representation fronn Pennsylvania in the Senate of the United 
States, the Legislature selected Mr. Dallas to fill that honorable 
post. Thus, in entering for the first time a legislative body, he 
found himself in the highest and most important assembly that 
exists under the provisions of the American Constitution. A 
new field was given to his talents as a statesman and an orator. 
Having at the bar of Philadelphia few equals in forensic elo- 
quence, and being perhaps without a rival, certainly without a 
superior, at home, on any occasion of public and especially polit- 
ical discussion, he was now required to match himself with men 
trained by exercise as well as possessed of distinguished ability, 
in a scene which forbade the logical precision of a court, and yet 
could scarcely call forth or permit the animated current of spon- 
taneous declamation so often successfully indulged in the lesser 
assemblages of his fellow citizens. His speeches in the Senate 
of the United States, throughout the period that he remained 
there, were heard with attention that gave evidence of his com- 
plete success. Those that have been more carefully reported 
display, on a variety of topics, striking political views, and they 
abound with passages of animated eloquence. The most inter- 
esting subject of general discussion was that which made the 
winters of 1832 and 1833 more memorable in our legislative 
history than any period since the war with England. The prin- 
ciples on which a revision of the tariff of duties was to be made 
gave rise, in the former session, to long and warm debates, which 
in the following one led to those that involved the serious ques- 
tion of a right of one or more of the States to nullify a law 
making such revision on principles that it might regard as con- 
trary to the provisions of the constitution. On both occasions 
Mr. Dallas took part in these debates. On the former, after an 
eloquent picture of the sitiiation and resources of the United 
States, he touched, with a powerful but friendly spirit, the va- 
rious causes to which, independently of the policy of protection 
generally advocated by the northern statesmen, might be im- 
puted the distre-^ses that were supposed peculiarly to affect and 
injure the agriculture of the South. Following then the course 
of general opinion, as well as the declared policy of Pennsylva- 
nia, as evinced in the repeated votes of her Legislature, he pre- 
sented, in a manner not often surpassed in force and clearness 
by those who have treated the matter in the same light, the viev/s 
then entertained on the best mode of adjustirg the delicate ques- 



22 LIFE OF 

tion so as to save the South from anv real injury, and yet pre- 
serve from destruction the labor and pursuits of the Northern 
and Middle States. Wlien the heightened excitement of the 
fcdiowiiig year produced that gloomy epoch in our fraternal an- 
nals, which was marked by serious discussions on the extent of 
force that the general government might exert upon the opposing 
laws of the States, and the consequent actions of her authorities 
and people, he sustained that power in the Union which he be- 
lieved to be essential to its preservation, and warranted by the 
spirit and terms of the contract, but deprecated, in so doing, 
everv measure not clearly necessary for those objects. On all 
questions appearing to involve any differences of policy or in- 
terest among the States, Mr. Dallas appears uniformly to have 
leaned to that course which he deemed most calculated, even at 
some sacrifice, to preserve the harmony of the whole. 

On the 5d of March, 1833, the term expired for which he had 
been elected to the Senate. At his own request, his name was 
withheld from the legislature as a candidate for re-election. He 
was then selected bv Governor Wolf as the Attorney General 
of his native State, and he continued to hold it with increasing 
reputation, and with a degree of approbation and confidence on 
the part of the whole community never exceeded, nor often 
equalled, until the change in the executive administration of the 
State, bv the election of Governor Hitner, induced liim to with- 
draw. 

Mr. Dallas soon perceived the sef-ret operations that ripened 
to so fatal a result, by which the 15ank of the United States was 
imposed, by corrupt and dishonest means, on the people of the 
United States, and especially of Pennsylvania, as a State institu- 
tion. He lent the aid of his influence and talents to resist it 
while he remained at Ilarrisburg, and on his return to Philadel- 
phia, awakened his Democratic brethren, in public discussions, 
to a full sense of the danger whose near approach had been care- 
full v concealed. The history of that disastrous measure, and the 
means by which its success was achieved, if not yet developed 
in all their details, are vet generally known. In consequence of 
it, tin' Siau> was plunged into tlie loiii; train of disasters from 
which its liti/.ens have not yet been able to extricate themselves, 
and of which the effects, extending far beyond their immediate 
objects, have jiroduced the most deplorable results on the busi- 
ness, pro>perilv, ami even character of the Amriiian people. 



GEORGE M. DALLAS. 23 

Even after the shackles had been fixed, Mr. Dallas was among 
those who sought to relieve the community from so fatal a thral- 
dom. Taking advantage of the approaching convention, when 
the people of the State were to meet with every attribute of ori- 
ginal sovereignty not restrained by the Constitution of the United 
States, and of which the assemblage was promulgated by the vote 
of the people before the act in question was passed, he called to 
the consideration of the inhabitants of the State, in an able and 
eloquent letter, the propriety of examining into the frauds that 
had been perpetrated, and relieving the commonwealth, by an 
edict of that body, from all fraudulent invasions of its rights, 
d\ie care being taken to protect and indemnify individuals con- 
cerned in the institution from any pecuniary loss. 

The political history of the following winter was marked by 
the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency, and one of the 
earliest of his acts was to oft'er to Mr. Dallas the post of envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Russia. In that 
country he remained till October, 1839. The only portion of 
his official correspondence while there that has been made public, 
is his discussion with Count Nesselrode, relative to the territo- 
ries and commercial intercourse of the two nations on the coast 
of the Pacific Ocean. It developes several points connected with 
the rights of the respective governments on those shores, pre- 
sented with great clearness and interest, and destined, no doubt, 
at a day not very distant, to become subjects of still more gene- 
ral and minute examination. The claims and rights of the Ameri- 
cans are sustained with great ability and spirit. 

Since Mr. Dallas' return from Russia, he has devoted himself 
exclusively to the practice of his profession ; and though it is gen- 
erally understood, that not long after that event, a seat in his 
cabinet was tendered to him by Mr. Van Buren, nevertheless, he 
desired to remain in private life. That he will be long permitted 
to do so, we cannot think. He now stands before his country- 
men as a candidate for the second office within their gift. The 
unanimous voice of the Convention which nominated him, and 
the response which it receives from all sections of the country, 
augurs well for his triumph, and the success of those principles 
with which he has been so long identified. To the confidence 
reposed in him, founded in his adherence, from earliest youth, to 
the accepted doctrines of the republican party on every great 
national question, he adds a brilliancy of genius, a spotless per- 



•4 APPENDIX. 

sonal life, and qualities so calculated to win the affection and 
reo-.ird of all witli whom he is called into association, that his 
native State, placing him as she does in the hi<;hest class of her 
favorite sons, \\ill scarcely consent that the riper years of his 
life shall be withdrawn altogetlier from her service, and tliat of 
the people of the United Stales. Adornin^j; and filling, as he 
would with eminent distinction, the most exalted offices that his 
fellow citizens can bestow, their hope is certainly as general as 
it is reasonable and just, that none of the accidents which hang 
upon all human footsteps may withhold him from the honorable 
discharge of those public trusts, which are conferred by the 
willing suffrages of a free people, upon those among them who 
have been found to be the most deserving. 



APPENDIX. 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

Rr.SOLlTIONS OF TRC DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 

EALTIMOEE, MAY, 1S44. 

Eesolved, That the American Democracy place their trust not 
in factitious symbols, not in displays and appeals insulting to 
the jud}i;ment5 and subversive of the intellect of the people, but 
in a clear reliance upon the intelligence, the patriotism, and the 
discriminating justice of the American masses. 

Hesolceil, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our 
political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world 
as the great moral clement in a form of government springing 
from, and upheld by, the popular will; and we contrast it with 
the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or 
form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which 
conceives no im|)osture too monstrous for the popular credulity. 

jResolved, l/ienfore, That, entertaining these views, the Denxt- 
cratic party of this I'nion, through their delegates assembled in 
a general convention of the States, coming together in a spirit ol 
concoi-d, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free repre- 
sentative governaent, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for 
the rectitude of their intentions, renew and reassert before the 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 25 

American people, the declaration of principles avowed by tliem, 
when on a former occasion, in general convention, they presented 
their candidates for the popular suffrages: 

1. That the Federal Government is one of limited powers, 
derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power 
shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the depart- 
ments and agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient 
and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional power. 

2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the General 
Government the power to commence and carry on a general sys- 
tem of internal improvements. 

3. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the 
Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts 
of the several States, contracted for local internal improvements, 
or other State purposes ; nor would such assumption be just and 
expedieni! 

4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govern- 
ment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, 
or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another 
portion of our common country ; that every citizen and every 
section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an 
equality of rights and privileges, and to complete any ample 
protection of persons and property from domestic violence or 
foreign aggression. 

5. That it is the duty of every branch of the Government to 
enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our 
public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than 
is required to defray the necessary expenses of the Government. 

6. That Congress has no power to charter a National "Bank ; 
that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the 
best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican insti- 
tutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place 
the business of the country within the control of a concentrated 
money power, and above the laws and the will of the people. 

7. That Congress has no power under the Constitution to 
interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several 
States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of 
every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by 
the Constitution ; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, 
made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, 
or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to 

4 



26 APPLNDIX. 

lead to the most alarming ami dangerous consequences, and that 
all such eftbrts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the hap- 
piness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency 
of the Union, and ought nut to be countenanced by any friend to 
our political institutions. 

8. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from 
banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds 
of the Government and the rights of the people. 

9. That the liberal princi[)le? embodied by Jeflerson in the 
Declaration of Independence, ami sanctioned in the Constitution, 
vhich make ours the land of liberty, and the asvlum of the op- 
pressed of everv nation, have ever been cardinal principles in 
the Democratic faith; and every attempt to abridge the present 
privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, 
ought to be resisted with the same spirit vvhich swept the alien 
and sedition laws from our statute bonk. 

Jie&olvcd, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be 
sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the Consti- 
tution ; and that we are opposed to the law lately adc)i)ted, and 
to any law, for the distribution of such proceeds among the 
States, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to tlie Con- 
stitution. 

Resolved, That we arc decidedly opposed to taking from the 
President the qualified veto power by which he is enabled, under 
restrictions and responsibilities, amply sutlicient to guard the 
public interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits 
cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can 
be obtained thereon, and which has thrice saved the American 
jieo|)le from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of the Bank 
of the United Slates. 

Resolved, That our title to tiie whole of the Territory of Ore- 
gon is clear and un(|uestionable ; that no portion of the same 
ought to be ceded to England or any otlier power; and the re- 
occupati(»n of Oregon, and the re-annexation of Texas, at the 
eailiest pracCKai)le |)eiiod, are great y\merican measures, which 
this c(in\ cntinii reconiiiieiuls to the cordial support of the De- 
mociary of the Union. 

Rrsidvpd, That this convention liereby prisents to the people 
of the United States James K.. 1'olk, of 'I'enuessee, as the can- 
didate ut the Democratic party, for the ollice of President, and 



POLK ON REMOVAL OF DEPOSITES. 2/ 

George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, as the candidate of the 
Democratic party, for the office of Vice President of the United 
States. 

Resolved, That this convention hold in the highest estimation 
and regard their illustrious fellow citizen, Martin Van Buren of 
New York; that we cherish the most grateful and abiding sense 
of the ability, integrity, and firmness with which he discharged 
the duties of the high office of President of the United States, 
and especially of the inflexible fidelity with which he maintained 
the true doctrines of the Constitution, and the measures of the 
Democratic party, during his trying and nobly arduous adminis- 
tration ; that in the memorable struggle of 1840, he f. 11 a martyr 
to the great principles of which he was the worthy representa- 
tive, and revere him as such ; and that we hereby tender to him, 
in iiis honorable retirement, the assurance of the deeply seated 
confidence, affection, and respect of the American Democracy. 



MR. POLK'S SPEECH 

ON THE 

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 

IN" THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

December dOth, 1833, and January 6th, 1834. 

" The gentleman from South Carolina assumes that the Presi- 
dent, in reference to the removal of the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, has acted as a usurper and a tyrant ; he did not, however, 
furnish us the facts on which he grounds the accusation, but argued 
upon them as granted. In unmeasured terms, he accused the 
President of tyranny, usurpation, and injustice, and seemed to 
be as much in a rage with him as the Dutch bully was with the 
lottery wheel. Like the Dutchman, he seemed ready to break 
every thing into smashes, and with about as much reason ; — for 
if, in some capricious turn of fortune's wheel, the gentleman 
and his friends had obtained a prize, he would have pronounced 
it ' as fair a thing as ever was.' It was easy to call hard names, 
but the President had too long and too faithfully served his 
country to be within the reach of such assaults. But the Presi- 
dent is a usurper and a tyrant, and the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, we are assured, is not responsible to the President, and is 
independent of him. Now, I affirm, said Mr. P., that the Se- 



28 APPENDIX. 



cretaiv of tlie Treasury is nut iiiilopentleiit of ihe President; 
anil, furtiierinore, that if Congress should undertake to render 
him so, bv express law, they would exceed their power, and 
their act would be void. Yes, sir, I affirm that the Secretary of 
the Treasury is not iinlependcnt. The Secretary is appointed 
by the Executive authority of the country. 1 beg pardon of the 
Hous^e for entering into an argument to prove what has been ac- 
quiesced in for forty years — that the Secretary of the Treasury 
is dt-pendent upon the President. Do gentlemen mean to say 
that the President has not the power to remove the Secretary of 
the Treasury from office : The Constitution, on this point, says: 
•The Piesitient shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors or other public 
ministers, &:c., and all other officers of the United States, whose 
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which 
shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest 
the appointiiient of such inferior officers as they think proper in 
the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of De- 
partment.' The heads of Department were not inferior officers, 
and Congress had no right to appoint them ; Congress had no 
right to appoint any officer, and, further, they had no right to 
invest themselves with the power of appointing any officer. By 
what tenure does the Secretary of the Treasury hold his office? 
Although there was no express power given in the Constitution 
for the removal of that officer, yet it was evident that he held 
the office ' durnnle bene placlfo' — during; the pleasure of the 
President. The Judges of the Supreme Court hold their office 
by a dilVerent tenure, — during good behavior, anil from that ex- 
press provision he derived an argument that the Secretary of the 
Treasury did not hold by that tenure, but at the pleasure of the 
President. The tenure of the President and Vice President was 
expressly settled bv the Constitution — they hold for a term of 
years. But other officers hold during pleasure, — so it was under- 
stood bv the framers of the Constitution, and so it has been un- 
derstood ever since. 'Hie appointing power is the Executive 
power, and the appointiri'j; power must necessarily be the remov- 
ing power. If the one branch had the po\.er of appointment and 
another of removal, endless confusion would be ])i()duced in (he 
Ciovernment. The President ' shall lake care that the laws be 
faithfully executed ;' can he do this by autliori/.ing each officer 
to execute the law accorditig to his own understanding."' In that 



POLK OX REMOVAL OB DEP0SITE3. 29 

case there would be no uniformity or consistency in the action 
of the Government. One Secretary would execute the embargo 
law, but another would say that in his conscience, he believed 
the law to be unconstitutional, and therefore he was not bound to 
enforce it. Was it contemplated that each of the inferior officers 
should construe the law for himself ? Did the Constitution mean, 
as had been elsewhere suggested, merely to empower the Presi- 
dent to put down resistance to the laws. Unquestionably this 
was one of his duties. But the President, I affirm, cannot see 
that the laws are faithfully executed, except as he understood 
them, and it was necessary for him to remove those assistants 
whose construction of the law differed from his own, and to put 
others in their places. Else, how had it happened, upon the 
accession of each new President, that a new cabinet was ap- 
pointed. Else, how in the great political revolution of 1801, 
could the new President have brought into office a cabinet of his 
own ; and, how, without a new cabinet, would he have provided 
for the faithful execution of the laws ? Sir, said Mr. Polk, these 
are questions so long settled, that I fear I weary the House by 
referring to them. How happens it that the President is au- 
thorized to require the opinion of his cabinet in writing, if he 
has not a supervising power over them? The power of removal 
is left with the President, because he is the Chief Executive, and 
is responsible to the country for the faithful execution of the 
laws. 

" If he had succeeded in making himself understood, he had 
shown, that the exercise of the power by the Secretary of the 
Treasury was only the exercise of an ordinary and usual power. 
The President had also exercised the usual and ordinary power; 
he had removed the Secretary of the Treasury for refusing to 
act. But he begged pardon, if the argument of the member 
from South Carolina was good. Mr. Duane was still Secretary ; 
Mr. Taney had no authority at all. He, however, would con- 
tend, that Mr. D. was removed by the exercise of power that the 
President possessed, that this removal was a matter of right, de- 
volving upon the President, he having refused to act in confor- 
mity to his directions. Upon his removal, Mr. Taney is ap- 
pointed ; the removal is made by him, or by his order, and yet it 
was asked by the member from South Carolina (Mr. McDuffie), 
' Was it the Secretary who did this act .'' No ; it was the act 
of a tyrant, forsooth, and the Secretary had no more agency in 



APPENDIX. 



it tlian the iron pen with wiiich the order was written.' But lie 
(Mr. P.) would state, that it was fortunate for the country — 
most fortunate for the individual himself, that his character 
stood too hii;h to require any thing to be added by him, or which 
would render it necessary to say more, than tliat the present 
Secretary was not the person to be rendered the mere blind in- 
strument of any man, be he whom he might. He was not such 
a blind instrument as was charged in this transaction. He could 
state, as he was authorized to do, that the opinions given by him, 
and upon which he had acted in the removal, were similar to 
those given by him, in writing, in the month of March previous, 
when he was Attorney General, when consulted upon the subject 
as a Cabinet minister. "SVell, then, was he to be blamed, and 
thus stigmatized, for having honestly entertained the opinion that 
the deposites ought to be removed — fur removing them — when 
upon the refusal of Mr. Duane, and his dismissal, that he, ap- 
pointed his successor, should do so .' Yet for this removal a 
question upon which his mind had been long made up — he was 
* the miserable instrument of tyranny !' — he was to be stigma- 
tized as ' one of those miserable sycophants who literally crawled 
in their own slime, to the foot-stool of Executive favor.' 

"But it was objected, in the argument of the gentleman from 
South Carolina, that to withdraw the public deposites from the 
bank of the United States, and to place them in the State banks, 
was a union of the purse and the sword — this was the old argu- 
ment to which he adverted the other day, brought up in the de- 
bate, which occurred in the Congress of 1 789, upon the organiza- 
tion of the Executive departments — an argument which had 
then been successfully met by Mr. Madison and other distin- 
guished patriots, who were members of the Congress at that pe- 
riod. But it was said by the gentleman, that the President had 
seized upon the public moneys — and we were asked Avhere was 
the public treasurer Now it is well known that the President 
has no more control over the i)ublic monev in deposite in State 
banks than he had while they were in deposite in the United 
States bank. By the Constitution no money can be drawn from 
the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. 
The President could not, therefore, if he would, any more use a 
dollar now, than he could before the deposites were removed. 
This is the mere phantom of an excited luinil or of a disordered 
imagination. The gentleman imagines irrcat danger from the 



POLK ON REMOVAL OF DEPOSITES. 31 

Executive influence over the State banks, in which the public 
moneys may be deposited — and yet did not the same power exist 
in the President of the United States, from the organization of 
the Government, up to the close of Mr. Monroe's administration; 
and were any such dangerous consequences ever felt as the gen- 
tleman seems now to imagine ? During the existence of the old 
bank charter, the Executive Department of the Government 
directed at will, the place of public deposite for the public mo- 
neys, and the places of deposite were changed at pleasure during 
the administration of Mr. Monroe, and that of all his predeces- 
sors. Since the present bank w^as chartered, the same power was 
claimed and repeatedly exercised by Mr. Crawford, as abundantly 
shown the other day from the documentary history of the times. 
Yet, the dangerous consequences now apprehended, were never 
found to flow from the exercise of that power. But the gentle- 
man has informed us that every one knows that the President of 
a State bank, which is made a public depository, will be con- 
trolled by the Federal Executive; that every one knows that the 
President of a bank controls and governs the debtors to that 
bank; that the city debtors to the bank control the country 
dealers who are indebted to them, and the country dealers con- 
trol their country debtors. The chain, he says, h a very short 
one by which the whole country indebted directly, or indirectly, 
to a State bank, which is a place of public deposite, will be con- 
trolled by the Executive authority here. This is, indeed, a fan- 
ciful picture ; but did not the gentleman reflect, that according 
to his ow^n argument, the same power which he deprecates in tlie 
State banks, in fact exists to a much greater extent in the Bank 
of the United States ? The Bank of the United States possesses 
a great central power, controlling, by the will of a single man, 
all its ramifications and branches in every portion of the Union ; 
it is, too, an iri-esponsible power, which can act by its different 
branches in perfect concert, in different portions of the Union 
at the same moment. "Whereas the State Banks have no such 
central power to control or direct their concerted movements. 
In fact the State Banks, from the necessary and inevitable colli- 
sion of their interests, must counteract and control tlie move- 
ments of each other, even if they were disposed to become the 
prostituted instruments of political party. The President of the 
United States is responsible to the people ; the Bank of the 
United States acknowledges no responsibility either to the Go- 



AlTENDiX. 



vernment or to the people; but he utterly denied that the State 
Banks either had been, or could be, tlie instruments of party. 
The real dan2;er to be apprehended, was from the Bank of the 
United States; whicli, if the argument of the gentleman from 
South Carolina be true, was enabled to control all \\ lio were 
either directly or indirectly indebted to it. 

"The gentleman from South Carolina gave us another reason 
v.hv the public deposites shouUl not be removed fiom the Bank 
of the United States. He had stated that the Government of 
the United States, being the owner of one-fifth of the stock of 
the United States Bank, would lose 140,000 dollars yearly by 
the withdrawal of tlie depo>ites. He supposed he meant by the 
diminution of the Government, dividends derived froni the use 
of the deposites by the Bank. He should not stop to inquire 
upon what data the gentleman had this information, but for the 
sake of the argument would take it to be true, as lie had stated it. 
It then, would, in fact lose $140,000 per annum by this diminu- 
tion of its dividend, derivable from the use of the public depo- 
sites, bv the Bank, then we have a data by which to estimate 
the value of the renewal of tlie bank charter for 20 years. If 
the Government would lose 8140,000 for a single year, its loss 
for a period of ^0 years would be 2,800,000 dollars. The Go- 
vernment owning but one fifth of the stock, the wlude loss to 
the 15ank would be five times that amount, or fourteen millions of 
dollars. Fourteen millions then, according to the argument, is 
the value of the renewal of the Bank charter for twenty years 
arising from the public deposites alone, and independent of the 
value of the exclusive privileges of banking conferred by the 
charter, and yet the gentleman from South Carolina, two years 
a"-o, sustained by his vote the previous question, twice in the 
same dav, to confer upon the present stockholders the renewal 
of the present charter, for a period of 20 years for a bonus of 
three millions ; he did this, too, when other capitalists, by their 
memorials before Congress, oft'ored a much lar-rer bonus for simi- 
lar privileges. The ellects of making deposites in the State 
Banks will be, ( saiil Mr. P.) that the profits will not go, as they 
now do, into the pockets of foreigners, but will loinain in the 
countrv lor the benefit of our own citizens. It is well known 
that a large amount of Bank stock is owned abroad, and a large 
amount in specie is annuallv transported from the country. 

" Mr. P. ?aid he feared lie should fatigue the House, as he 



POLK ON REMOVAL OF DEP03ITES, 33 

knew he had himself, and must therefore close his remarks. 
We are called on, Mr. Speaker, to decide a question of no or- 
dinary import. The Bank of the United States has set itself 
up as a great irresponsible rival power of the Government. It 
assumes to regulate the finances of the country, and to control 
the whole policy of government in the regulation of the finan 
cial concerns of the country: it assumes to dictate to the coun- 
try, in effect, how its Government shall be administered : and 
although it has used the public moneys entrusted to its hands, 
for safe keeping, fur purposes of political corruption, it comes 
here to demand, as a matter of right, that the public treasure 
shall be restored to it — it has wasted the public money: it has 
thrown itself into the arena of politics, and employed its corpo- 
rate wealth, corruptly to control elections : it has been a faithless 
fiscal agent, in paying out the public moneys, when demanded for 
the public service : it has violated its charter, by delegating to 
secret committees, powers, which of right can only be exercised 
by the board of directors ; it refused to submit its affairs to the 
scrutiny of impartial investigation and truth, under the heaviest 
charges of corruption and mal-practices made against it, and 
boldly demands at the hands of the representatives of the peo- 
ple, that it be permitted to continue in the use of the public 
funds. — It is a great aristocracy of money, which in all a^es of 
the world has allied itself with the enemies of liberty. Gentle- 
men must not deceive themselves ; the present is in substance 
and in fact, the question of recharter or no recharter. The 
question is in fact, whether we shall have the Republic, without 
the Bank, or the Bank without the Republic. It has done more, 
sir, in its manifesto officially issued by its board; it has under- 
taken to lecture the representatives of the people, on political 
economy, and to docirinate (if I may be permitted to use the 
term,) Congress, in regard to the constitutional powers of the 
different departments of Government. It assumes with the gen- 
tleman from South Carolina, that the President is a tyrant, an 
usurper — that the Treasury is independent of the Executive, 
and that he has wantonly removed one Secretary from office and 
appointed another. 

" The very fact that it requires any effort to expose its enor- 
mities to the universal indignation of a virtuous people, proves 
it not only to be a vast power, but a dangerous power, in a 
country which boasts of the purity of its institutions. It is my 
5 



S4 APPENDIX. 

deliberate conviction, that if the power and monopoly of the 
present Bank be continued for another twenty years, it will be 
the veriest despot that ever ruled over any land, a despotism ot 
money, without responsibility. No man, hereafter, can expect 
to arrive at the first station in this jireat republic, without first 
making terms with the de>pot. It will control your election of 
President, of your Senators, and of your Representatives. It 
such was its power when it stood in the position of an antaj;onist 
to the Government, what would it be in the hands of corrupt 
men, at the head of allairs, whom it would prostitute itself to 
serve, and whom it could bend to its own purposes. 

" After some further remarks, Mr. P. said he trusted in Ciod, 
that the country might be saved from a despotism such as this ; 
from the blighting influence of this most corrupt and corrupting 
institution that ever existed under the sun ; an institution whose 
practices and principles were alike inimical to the existence of 
tree Government." 



MR. POLK S SPEECH 



MAYSVILLE VETO. 

MAY 28, 1830. 

"The viident, vindictive, and unprecedented character of the 
remarks which had jusl fallen from the membei- from Ohio [Mr. 
Stanbery] had opened the whole discussion. That nuMiiln-r took 
occasion, in the most violent manner, to say that the message of 
the chief ma^iistrate was a low, undignified, electioneering paper ; 
that it had n()thin<r honest in it ; that it had nothing candid or 
open in it ; that it was the work of his ministry, and not of him- 
self; that iho liaiid of the mai;,ician was to be seen in every line 
of it. 

"Ml. I'. -aid he took the liberty to sav to the member from 
Ohio that tliis violent torrent of abu>e, poured upon the head of 
the chief magistrate, was gratuitous, and wholly unjustifiable, 
not sustained in a single particular by the truth, and wholly 
unfounded in fact. 

"The member himself did not, and could not believe one word 
of what he had just uttered in tlir l.n e of ihe hoii-i' and of the 
nation. Xo man in llie iKiiioii, oi' anv ]tartv, who knows the 



POLK ON MAYSVILLE VETO. 35 

character of the President, believed what the gentleman charged 
upon him. He was glad that the member had at length thrown 
oft' the cloak under which he had covertly acted during the pre- 
sent session. He had been elected to his seat here by the friends 
of the President. If he was correctly informed, he came into 
this house upon the popularity of the venerable man whom he 
now so wantonly assailed. He came here professing to give to 
his administration a fair and an honest support — professing to be 
enumerated among his political friends. Had he sustained one 
single measure which the President recommended? Not one — 
and it was matter of no regret that the member had at length 
thrown oft' the mask. He cannot claim this occasion, or this 
bill, as a pretext for his desertion from his former professed po- 
litical attachments. What was there in this occasion to call 
forth such a tirade of abuse ? The President has returned to 
this house, as it was his constitutional right, and, entertaining 
the opinion he did, his duty to do, a bill which had passed Con- 
gress, and been presented to him for his constitutional sanction. 
He had, in a very temperate, and, he added, in a very able man- 
ner, assigned the reasons why he had felt himself constrained, 
from a high sense of public duty, to withhold his signature and 
sanction from it. We are called upon by an imperative provis- 
ion of the constitution to reconsider the vote by which a major- 
ity of this house had agreed to pass the bill. The bill and the 
message of the President were the fair subjects of deliberation 
and discussion for this house. We were now called upon to dis- 
charge a high constitutional duty on our part. Had the member 
discussed, or even pretended to discuss, a single principle con- 
tained iu the message or in the bill ? No ! He had chosen to 
make a most wanton attack upon the President. Why was the 
member from Oliio thrown into such a rage ? Was it because 
the system of which this bill is a part was so dear to him ? Does 
he not know, will he deny it, that he has heretofore professed to 
be opposed to this whole system? In the last Congress he was 
a member of the committee on manufactures. He voted for the 
tariff", and ostensibly supported it ; but did he not then openly 
say to many gentlemen (not in confidence, for, if it had been so, 
he would be the last man to betray that confidence,) that he was 
opposed to the whole American system — that it was nothing but 
a political hobby ? Did he not say that he would return home 
and revolutioni/.e public opinion in his own district, and in the 



JT6 ArrE\Di\-. 

whole state of Ohio ; that a delusion cxis^ted in that State that 
could and should be removeil ; that he had never converged with 
a plain, tai ining man, and explained to him the opeiations of this 
American svstem, but tliat he convinced liim tliat it was against 
his interest to support it r AVouId the gentleman deny this ? If 
he would venture to do it, he pledged himself to prove it upon 
him by many members of this house. It was not, then, the at- 
tachment of the gentleman to this system that could have in- 
duced him to throw into the house the fire-brand tliat he had. 
Tliat pretext cannot shield him. He best knows the real cause 
of his present course. He best knows whether he was ever, 
in truth and in fact, the sincere friend of the President, or 
whether he found it convenient to profess to be his friend in 
order to obtain his election to this house. The member had 
formed new associations recently — associations with our old po- 
litical adversaries ; and he was glad, for the future, to know who 
he was, and where to find him. A covert political adversary 
was much more insidious and dangerous than one that openly 
avowed himself, and acted upon his professions. He had to beg 
the pardon of the house for any apparent warmth which his man- 
ner may have indicated. It had been wholly induced by the 
most unexpected torrent of abuse which fell from the member 
from Ohio, so uncalled for by the occasion, so unnecessary and 
uncertain in its character, and which produced so visible a sen- 
sation in the house, on all sides of it, and among all parties in it. 
That joember was wholly responsible for the excitement which 
it was apparent pervaded tlie whole house. 

" The message of tlie President, he undertook to state, was em- 
phatically his own; and the views presented for the rejection of 
this bill were the result of the honest convictions of his own de- 
liberate reflection. Was it an electioneering; measure r No man 
who knows his character will l)elie\e it. The comnuin sense of 
the nation will put to shame the charge. What ! an election- 
eering measure! a popularity-hunting scheme I Why, sir, if he 
had been so base, in the discharge of a high constitutional duty, 
as to have been ojierated upon by such a motive, the indications 
ill tiiis Congress — the will of the people, if that will he correctly 
rellected here, a nuijoiity of whose representatives originally 
voted for this bill — would have presenteil the most poweiliil mo- 
live whv he should have approved and signed (his bill. No, sir, 
the i'resident wtuild not he him.-cll, if he had been capable of 



POLK ON MAYSVILLE VETO. 37 

being influenced in the slij^htest degree by any such considera- 
tions. Such considerations have no place in minds of the ele- 
vated cast of that of the chief magistrate. Such considerations 
are only suited to the bent of such grovelling minds as are them- 
selves capable of making the charge. No, sir, on the contrary, 
on the brink of a great crisis, at a period of unusual political 
excitement, — to save his country from what he conscientiously 
believed to be a dangerous infraction of the constitution — to 
avert the evils which threatened, in its consequences, the long 
continuance of the confederacy upon its original principles, — he 
had, with a patriotism never surpassed, boldly and firmly staked 
himself, his present and his future popularity and fame, against 
what seemed to be the current of public opinion. Had he signed 
this bill, the road on which he w^ould have travelled would have 
been a broad pavement, and his continued elevation certain be- 
yond the possibility of doubt. As it was, he had planted him- 
self upon the ramparts of the constitution, and had taken the 
high responsibility upon himself to check the downward march 
in which the system of which this bill is a part was fast hasten- 
in'»- us. It required just such a man, in such times, to restore 
the constitution to its original reading. In the course of a long 
and eventful life he had always been equal to any emergency, 
however perplexing or embarrassing his situation might be. He 
had never failed to assume responsibility when he should assume 
it; and in no instance in his public life had he displayed in a 
more eminent degree that moral courage and firmness of charac- 
ter so peculiarly characteristic of him, than in this. He has 
achieved a civil victory which will shed more lustre upon his 
future fame, and be infinitely more durable, than many such vic- 
tories as that of the battle of Orleans, for, by this single act, he 
verily believed he had done more than any man in this country, 
for the last thirty years, to preserve the constitution and to per- 
petuate the liberties we enjoy. The constitution was, he hoped, 
to be again considered and practised upon, as it, in fact, was one 
of limited powers, and the States permitted to enjoy all the pow- 
ers which they originally intended to reserve to themselves in 
that compact of union. The pernicious consequences, the evil 
tendencies, to say nothing of the corrupting influence of the 
exercise of a power over internal improvements by the federal 
government, were not fully developed until within a very few 
years last past. Mr. Madison, on the last day of his term of 



38 APPENDIX. 

office, put his veto on the bonus bill. In the followinjj year Mr. 
Monroe rejected a bill assumini^ jurisdiction and fixin^j tolls on 
the Cumberland road. The subject of the power was discussed 
at threat length and with great ability in the next Congress. 
The House of Representatives, by a small majority, at that time 
aflirmed the power to appropriate money for objects of national 
improvement, but denied, and by the vote of the house nega- 
tived, the power to construct roads or canals of any character, 
whether militarv, commercial, or for the transportation of the 
mail. It was not until the last administration tliat the broad 
power to the extent now claimed, limited only by the arbitrary 
discretion of Congress, was asserted and attempted to be main- 
tained bv the Executive and by Congress. It was not until that 
period that its dangers were fully perceived. The President 
had manifested, in the message before us, that he had been an 
attentive observer of its progress, and its probable, if not its in- 
evitable, consequences. He could not shut his eyes to the con- 
stant collisions, the heart-burnings, the combinations, and the 
certain corruption to which its continual exercise would tend, 
both in and out of Congress. In the conscientious discharge of 
a constitutional duty, which he was not at liberty to decline, he 
had withheld his signature from this bill, and had frankly sub- 
mitted to us his views upon this important question ; and he 
trusted we would deliberate upon it temperately, as we should, 
and, in the vote which we were about to give upon the reconsid- 
eration of this bill, according to the powers of the constitulio.n, 
express the opinions wliich we entertain, and not make a false 
issue, growing out of a personal assault upon the character or 
motives of the chief magistrate." 



COLONEL P O L K'S LETTER 
ON TEXAS. 



Columbia, Tenn. April 2.3, 134-1. 
Gentlemen : Your letter of the 30th ult. which you have done 
me the honor to address to me, readied mj residence during mj 
absence from home, and was not received until yesterday. Ac- 
companying your letter, you transmit to me, as you state, " a 
copy of the proceedings of a very large meeting of the citizens 
of Cincinnati, assembled on the 29th instant, to express their 
settled opposition to the annexation of Texas to the United 
States." You request from me an explicit expression of opin- 
ion upon this question of annexation. Having at no time enter- 
tained opinions upon public subjects which I was unwilling to 
avow, it gives me pleasure to comply with your request. I have 
no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate 
re-annexation of Texas to the territory and Government of the 
United States. I entertain no doubts as to tiie power or expe- 
diency of the re-anncxation. The proof is clear and satisfactory 
to my mind that Texas once constituted a part of the territory 
of the United States, the title to which I regard to have been as 
indisputable as that to any other portion of our territory. At 
the time the negotiation was opened with a view to acquire the 
Floridas, and the settlement of other questions, and pending 
that negotiation the Spanish Government itself was satisfied of 
the validity of our title, and was ready to recognize a line far 
west of the Sabine as the true western boundary of Louisiana, 
as defined by the treaty of 1803 with France, under which Lou- 
isiana was acquired. This negotiation, which had been first 
opened at Madrid, was broken off" and transferred to Washing- 
ton, where it was resumed, and resulted in the treaty of Florida, 
by which the Sabine was fixed on as the western boundary of 
Louisiana. From the ratification of the treaty of 1803 with 
France, until the treaty of 1819 with Spain, the territory now 
constituting the republic of Texas belonged to the United States. 
In 1819 the Florida treaty was concluded at Washington by 



40 APrLNPix". 



Mr. Juhn Quincy Adaras, (the Secretary of State) on the part 
of the United States, and Don Louis de Onis on the part of 
Spain; and by that treaty this territory lying west of tlie Sabine, 
and constituting Texas, was ceded by tlie United States to Spain. 
The Rio Del Norte, or some more western boundary than the 
Sabine, could liave been obtained had it been insisted on by tl\e 
American Secretary of State, and that without increasing the 
consideration paid for the Floridas. In my judgment, tlie coun- 
try west of the Sabine, and now called Texas, was most un- 
■wisely ceded away. It is a part of the great valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, directly connoctcd by its navigable waters, with the 
Mississippi river; and having once been a part of our Union, it 
should never have been dismembered from it. The Government 
and people of Texas, it is understood, not only give their con- 
sent, but are anxiously desirous, to be re-united to the United 
States. If the application of Texas for a reunion and admis- 
sion into our contVderacy shall be rejected by the United States 
there is imminent danger that she will become a dependency, if 
not a colony, of Great Britain — an event which no American 
patriot, anxious for the safety and prosperity of this country, 
could permit to occur without the most strenuous resistance. 
IjCt Texas be re-annexed, and tlie authority and laws of the 
United States be establislied and maintained within her limits, 
as also in the Oregon Territory, and lot the fixed policy of our 
Government be, not to permit Great Britain or any other foreign 
power to plant a colony or hold dominion over any portion of 
the people or territory of either. These are my opinions; and 
without deeming it to be necessary to extend this letter, by 
assigning the many reasons which influence me in the conclu- 
sions to which I come, I regret to be compelled to difter so 
widely from the views expressed by yourselves, and the meeting 
of citizens of Cincinnati, whom you ii'present. Diftering, how- 
over, with you and with them as I do, it was due to frankness 
tiiat I should be thus explicit in the declaration of my opinions. 
1 am, with great respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

JAMKS k. POLK. 
To Messrs. S. P. Chask, 

Thomas lliCAroN, &:c. 

Commit tie, Cincinnati. 



cCStoQ/J 



GEORGE M. DALLAS AND THE UNITED STATES BANK. 



^ convened to exasperate party. Bank banners were paraded on ^H 

5 every election ground. Official manifestoes, equally arrogant % 

^ and inflammatory, were issued. Legislation was to be overawed, (t'^f) 

D the citizens intimidated, the elective franchise depreciated or 0(S9 

2 controlled, the country revolutionized ! This was a process of 1^5 ^9 

7^ recharter which seemed to prostitute the powers and to defeat the yfSP 

{, purpose of the corporation. It involved practices and preten- £'^2 

? sions utterly irreconcilable with what were well known to me to 9; Sj^ 

{, have been the pure objects and Democratic principles of its ^sk 

\ founders. It gave reality at once to the vivid pictures drawn in /''^^ 

Congress of the ambitious tendencies and dangerous influences £^g|Z 

^ of such a moneyed agent. It threw me irresistibly back upon 

^ the pledge which, as a republican senator, I had openly given in 

^ that high sphere of representative duty, and I witnessed and 7i 

^ SHARED WITH PRIDE THE MANLY AND VIGOROUS AND TRIUMPHANT <^ 
^ RESISTANCE BY WHICH ITS USURPATIONS WERE ENCOUNTERED AND Q 
5 FINALLY PROSTRATED. "^ 

^ " But, uncompromising hostility to a?iy bank which shall start (( 

^ from its prescribed path and strict subordination, shall venture n 

to mingle in politics, and shall, covertly or boldly, formally or (2 

informally, gather, exasperate and lead party for the attainment o 

of its ends, is, in my estimation, an imperative obligation upon K 

those who desire to perpetuate the virtue and freedom which 9 

characterize our social and political system. !^ 

" The PEOPLE OF America can never again incur the risk 9 

OF A NATIONAL BANK. ^ 

"Providence, among its numerous merciful dispensations, or- ? 

dained this struggle to occur while yet enough of primitive De- h, 

mocracy and revolutionary energy remained to secure its issue: % 

at a time when the watch tower was tenanted by one whose lofty ^^' 

patriotism attracted unbounded confidence, while from his stern m 

presence and inflexible purpose the efforts of intimidation, cla- °j 

mour or blandishment, withdrew defeated and unavailinsr. m- 

" I am aware that speculative writers deny the competency of nl 

one Legislature to impair the power of its successor, or to grant (n_ 
away a franchise which may not be recalled at discretion : but, 
however ingenious and plausible such a position may be made to 
appear on paper, it is repelled by all history and all practice. 

Every session of our own general assembly ever convened has K-i 

acted irreconcilably with such a doctrine. The case is one in 9(^ 

which resource to an extreme theory, ever so captivating, would Q^'l 

be unwise." 9;tB 



M|iii|i MiiM iiiiiifHiM|iim 

'■:SA'd c^^-CAi? a^i?^ 'c^-^Ao cii-rAO H-sbU) eCr^tg T.cy^O rv2:/t3 c-^J^ R^Xs e4'i?<D RcXa(c)^i^ 



— - /;^o v""^-3 o-.r;--3 ?y"^~o cv-^o ?'.;~>s ?vr^ pv:p<3 cj^r^o ?v::>0 Pvr^-o gv^^ g%c--^o £v:>o /^ 

ruihiiBiimiiMciVriiimiiiniiimiiiiiiriiiHii 



I 



^■^19 



:^) 



is 



mR. POLK'S OPINIONS ON THE TARIFF. | 

The opinions of JMr. Polk on this subject may be summed up o^ 

in a few words. In a speech delivered at Jackson, Tennessee, (^. 

on the 3d April, 1843, after a full discussion of the (jucstion, he ^j 

concluded his argument by the following condensed declaration : (^ 

" He [Col. Polk] AVAS OPPOSED TO DIRECT TAXES, ^ 

'") and to prohibitory and protective duties, and in favor of such ^ 

''" ?«oJpra/s duties as would not cut oft' importations. IN OTHER ^ 

WORDS, HE WAS IN FAVOR OF REDUCING THE DU- (1 

TIES TO THE RATES OF THE COMPROMISE ACT, $ 

WHERE THE WHIG CONGRESS FOUND THEM ON ?, 

THE 30th OF JUNE, 1842.'' . ^ 

Here is no non-committal. But, while tlie Whigs have been ^ 
the first to call up this opinion for political eft'ect, they seem to o 
have forgotten how concurrently it runs with the views of Mr. 7j 
Clay himself, as expressed by him in a speech made in the Senate ^ 
on the 21st January, 184'2. The language is taken from the ^ 
JVutional Intelligencer y Mr. C's especial organ. It is for Mr. y! 
Polk's opponents to say whether this is the honest opinion of q 
their candidate. If it be, let them compare it with Mr. P's (I 
declaration, and draw the distinction, if they can. If it is not, * 
let them then settle the question of truthfulness with the people. / 

Extrad from Mr. Clay^s Speech. q 

'•Carry out (hen, sa'id he, the spirit of the Compromise Act. (i 

Look to Revenue alone for the support of Government. Do not o 

S raise the question of Protection, which I had hoped had been put (i 

!i to rest. THERE IS NO NECESSITY OF PROTECTION » 

FOR PROTECTION." ^ 

Now, this is our doctrine, "Carry out the spirit of the Com- 2 

promise Act," as Mr. Clay says : — " Reduce the duties to the ^ 

rates of the Compromise Act," as says Mr. Polk: — " I ani for a 

supporting the Compromise Act, and never will agree to its / 

being altered or repealed," as General Harrison said, in the fol- g 

lowing letter : 1 

" Zanesville, Novemher 2, 1856. | 

" Gentlemen : — I had the honor, this moment, to receive your ^ 
communication of yesterday. I regret that my remarks of yes- >j 
terday were misunderstood in regard to the tarift* system. « 
What I meant to convey was, that I had been a warn\ advocate \ 
for that sytem upon its first adoption; that I still believe in the 
benefits it had conferreil upon the country, Hut I certainly 
never had, nor ever could have, any idea of reviving it. What 
I said was, that I would not agree to the repeal as it now stands. 
In other words, / nm for supporting the Compromise Act, and ! 
never will agree to its being altered or repealed. | 

" In relation to the internal improvement system, I refer you j 
for my sentiments to my letter to the Hon. Shcrroil Williams. 

" I am, in great haste, with threat respect, vour fellow -citi/.en, 

"WM. H. HARRISON. 

'• Messrs. Foster, Taylor, and others." 

/^HitniliHiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy^^ 



W46 



^•^'% 












"X^ • w <^ 









.'^^ ..^ 



,-^!^n<' ^. .v'^"' />Y^^ 







•<'\' 

.^•^^n. 















vv 



4 r 






.5^^... -. 












;»*^ 













.(? 










.♦/r^ 






